Council standing rules change, but not as Mr. Souza sought.

For several months, councilman Pete Souza has put an item on the agenda to try and reverse changes to the standing rules that would reinstate regular monthly work session and public comments during discussion of an agenda item.  

It did not go as planned.Wyatt moved to change the standing rules so as not to allow an item to be on the council's agenda for 90 days after an item fails to pass.  Before receiving a second, the motion was cleared with city attorney Will Ridley who said it would be legal for the council to put on itself.  

Councilman Jesse Kerley seconded the motion.  

Mr. Souza said, "I want to bring to the council's attention that this has far reaching effects, not just for what I've brought here today,  If this motion is just to censor Pete Souza, it has far reaching effects on every member of this council."

Mayor Mayberry said he recalled the first motion to come back to the council during his term was on the sponsorship of a golf tournament.  

The motion passed with council members Wyatt, Kerley and Pam Harris voting in favor.  Mr. Souza and Mayor Mayberry were opposed.  

One recent example of bringing an item back to council after being voted down was the Community Development Block Grant for $500,000 that the council voted down on a Thursday and called a special meeting the next Monday to reconsider and approve after reconsidering the action.  

Discussion and vote on city council rule change.

Souza unsuccessfully tries again to reverse standing rules--says he will keep placing on agenda as long as he's in office

For the third month in a row Mr. Souza requested to have an item on the agenda proposing to rescind the standing rules adopted March 10, 2016 that abolished monthly work sessions and ended public comments during an agenda item. When this item came up on the agenda, Mr. Souza began by saying, “When we stopped the public from being allowed to speak, curtailed their right to present their case to their elected officials.”

Mayor Mayberry asked Souza if he had a motion? Souza apologized and moved to rescind the standing rules adopted on March 10, 2016. Mayberry asked for a second and receiving none, seconded the motion himself.

Souza said he will continue to put the item on the agenda every month while he remains in office.

Councilman Jesse Kerley said he disagreed with Souza saying that he had sat on the council for four years between 2006 and 2010 when public comments were never permitted. Said Kerley, “That has changed. People have the option to speak in public.” Kerley continued saying that the reason to redo the standing rules was because “people were getting up here grand standing and not speaking to the motion on the floor. We are here to conduct the city's business.”

Souza started to comment about the remarks Mr. Kerley made during a may special called meeting concerning the settlement with John Turner referring to “signs painted in a barn.” Kerley called point of order saying that Souza's comments had nothing to do with the item on the floor. Mayor Mayberry ruled against Mr. Kerley.

Souza asked to address the city attorney Will Ridley asking about the concept of violating the rules once making the rules then unenforceable as took place on separations between beer licensees and churches.

Ridley explained that there was a difference between ordinances that apply to all Crossville citizens and those that the council puts upon themselves. The standing rules and Robert's rules of order are ruled on by the mayor according to Ridley. If a council member does not agree with the ruling an appeal should be made at that time.

The motion on rescind the standing rules failed in a tie vote with Mr. Souza and Mayberry in favor and Mr. Kerley and councilman Danny Wyatt opposed. Pamala Harris was absent for the meeting.

Souza says ACLU Complaint filed over public comments at May 12 Council meeting--Council shuts down free speech disucssion

Normally minutes of the Crossville city council meetings are handled in the consent agenda without discussion or controversy. That was not the case during the June regular meeting.

Council member Pete Souza requested that the minutes be pulled from the consent agenda and acted upon separately. Minutes for May 17 and 23 meeting were approved with no discussion and councilman Jesse Kerley moved to approve the minuets of the regular May meeting held on May 12.

Souza addressed the minutes saying the city attorney Will Ridley had looked into the matter of paraphrasing the actions at the meeting in the minutes. Souza added that there was nothing wrong with that practice. “However,” Souza continued, “there are some omissions in exactly what was said.”

Souza said a constituent came to him and showed a complaint that was turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on an alleged violation of First Amendment rights and that was the reason for his pulling the matter aside to discuss.

“What comes of that (complaint), I don't know,” said Souza. “I'm not involved with it. So basically, at this point I want to make a comment that the contents of May 12 are not inclusive of everything that was said at that meeting.”

A roll call vote on approving the minutes passed unanimously with council member Pamala Harris absent.

Near the end of the agenda, Mr. Souza had requested an item to discuss what was captioned as “Discussion and possible action on failure to comply with the standard rules and Robert's Rules of Order during the May 12, 2016 regular scheduled meeting, and violation of first amendment rights.”

The main thrust of the first amendment complaint is that council members interrupted a public comment by Jeff Dahlberg at the end of the May 12 meeting during his three minutes telling him that he could not make public attacks against any council members during his time to speak. Dahlberg was speaking on behalf of the Crossville Recall and Crossville Citizens for Good Government website.

Souza started out on the item saying he was requesting three minutes to address the issues involved and after comments from Mr. Kerley about what procedure should be followed, Souza moved that he be allowed the time he requested and the matter was supported by Mayor Mayberry. Kerley stressed that any discussion should be on the motion only and not Mr. Souza's comments. A vote on the motion to allow Souza to speak was quickly voted down in another tie vote with Souza and Mayberry in favor, Wyatt and Kerley opposed.

Souza continuing to try and undo last changes to council's standing rules to return public comment/work sessions.

The Crossville city council meets Thursday evening May 12 and once again, councilman Pete Souza will try to convince other council members to put back public comments and the monthly work session that were removed in the last change of the council's standing rules.  

That last change in the council's standing rules came in March this year and Souza has been attempting to undo those changes ever since trying to give the public more voice at the council meetings. State law does not require the council to allow the public to speak at meetings but citizens do still have the chance to speak for a limited time at the end of the meetings. 

At the April meeting Souza brought up the change and his motion to rescind the previous standing rule changes failed with only two votes in favor from Souza and Mayor James Mayberry.  Souza described the previous action as “an assault on the people's rights to express what they have to say.” 

Contact information of city council members is available on the city's website at this link:  Crossville city council information 

 Souza added that the absence of the workshops encumbers the city in performance of the duties of the elected officials and gives more opportunities for the public to see the inner workings of government as each agenda item is discussed.